GCPS Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (AI)

GCPS AI Position: A Human-Centered Approach

AI is rapidly impacting the workforce, society, and even education. GCPS students and staff must be future-ready by understanding AI and demonstrating responsible and ethical use of AI. This guide is meant to communicate the principles we honor when making decisions around AI use and provide practical guidance and expectations. As AI evolves, the guidance around its use will as well. We believe that AI use should always include human oversight, including inquiry, reflection, insight, and empowerment. AI can be a useful tool to augment and enhance our work and learning, but humans must be in the loop regarding use and decision-making. We believe that an important element of future readiness for the GCPS community is to be responsible, ethical, and critical when leveraging AI tools.

GCPS Guidance for AI Use

Understanding AI

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, refers to computer systems that are trained with data to automate tasks normally requiring human intelligence. Types of AI range from systems doing specific tasks, like recommending movies or auto-correcting typing errors, to more advanced forms that can generate new content or predict future outcomes. Figure 1 defines the general differences between reactive, predictive, and generative AI. AI is also behind self-driving cars and digital assistants like Siri or Alexa. AI uses data and algorithms to generate decisions, predictions, or content. Essentially, AI allows machines to learn, adapt, and perform tasks like humans, often more quickly and accurately. It’s a rapidly evolving technology that’s already a part of our everyday lives (ISTE, 2023).

Three types of AI — Figure 1: General Types of AI (ISTE 2023)

AI is...	AI is not...
A tool to augment learning and operations	A replacement for humans who bring expertise and value to their roles and communities, like highly qualified educators
Already embedded into many technologies you use	Something that can be ignored or "turned off"
Includes flaws, such as algorithmic bias, that should be considered	A source of unquestionable, factual information
A product of other people or organizations with their own values, agendas, limitations, biases, and needs	Produced without influence or interests of specific people or agendas
An algorithm that can make decisions, provide predictions, or generate new content based on data that was used to train or create the algorithm	A sentient program

Guiding Principles

• Student and Staff Agency: AI tools can provide recommendations or enhance decision-making,
but staff and students will serve as “critical consumers” to inform and lead the use of AI in
responsible and ethical ways. AI can never replace the role or value that educators play in student
development and nurture.

• Equitable and Inclusive: All students should have access to meaningful and age-appropriate AI
tools that are vetted, approved, and inclusively designed with all students in mind.

• Safe and Secure: Students and staff should not be put at increased risk by using AI, nor should
their personally identifying information be unlawfully shared. We will evaluate both the risks and
opportunities of AI.

• Continuous Evaluation: AI and technologies are evolving rapidly, and GCPS commits to frequent
and regular reviews of use and updates of our policies, procedures, and practices.

• Humans Enhanced by Machines: All use of AI should ultimately provide a positive experience with
intentional use in teaching, learning, and operations. AI should aid in or enhance (not replace)
decision-making, creativity, learning, development, growth, and productivity. Humans should be in
the loop for all uses of AI.

• Transparent and Informed: While many AI systems may be complex to understand at a technical
level, students and staff should be AI literate by understanding (at a general level) how AI works
and why it produces the results that it does. AI products should be clear about how their tools are
developed and how outputs are generated.

• Advancing Academic Integrity: Honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility continue to be
expectations for both students and staff. Students and staff should be truthful in giving credit to
sources and tools and be honest in presenting work that is genuinely their own for evaluation and
feedback.

Guidance for Students

It is important for students to develop an understanding of how AI tools are developed and why they create the results that they do. Students should be critical users of AI, evaluating if and how AI should be used in different settings. Students follow the GCPS Acceptable Use Policy for Students and should follow their teachers’ guidance on the use of AI tools and ask for clarity before using if they are unsure.

Need to Know:

• Evaluating AI Tools: Students should use AI tools with the guidance of trusted adults. Students should evaluate the purpose, safety, and trustworthiness of AI tools before use. Not all AI tools are approved or appropriate for all ages, so be sure to check with your teacher or parent first.

• AI for Academic Purposes: Prior to use, refer to teacher guidance on the appropriate use of AI tools in academic settings. Guidance may change based on assignments and learning goals. Be sure to cite your use of AI.

• AI Output Review: Always review and critically assess outputs from AI tools before submission or dissemination. Students should never rely solely on AI-generated content without review.

• Bias and Misinformation: Be aware that AI-generated content may possess biases or inaccuracies. Always verify AI-produced results using trusted sources before considering them in academic work.

• Safety and Respect: Users must not use AI tools to create or propagate harmful, misleading, or inappropriate content.

Opportunities for AI Use:

• Aid Creativity: Students might harness generative AI to spark creativity across diverse subjects, including writing, visual arts, and music composition.

• Collaboration: Generative AI tools can support students in group projects by contributing concepts, supplying research support, and identifying relationships between varied information.

• Communication: AI can offer students real-time translation, personalized language exercises, and interactive dialogue simulations. It can also help students consider different ways or tones in which they might communicate an idea or message.

• Additional Practice and Learning: AI can help generate personalized study materials, summaries, quizzes, and visual aids, help students organize thoughts and content, and help review content.

• Thought Partner: Students may use AI to help clarify, summarize, or even analyze their own ideas in development.

Prohibited AI Use:

• Bullying/harassment: Using AI tools to impersonate others for bullying, harassment, or any form of intimidation is strictly prohibited. All users are expected to employ these tools solely for educational purposes, upholding values of respect, inclusivity, and academic integrity at all times.

• Overreliance: It is important not to become too dependent on AI tools. These tools lack human insight or understanding of specific situations. Students must continue to practice critical thinking by reviewing and evaluating outputs generated by AI before use. Use of AI should be meaningful and responsible.

• Plagiarism, Cheating, and Misrepresentation: Students should not copy from any source, including generative AI, without prior approval and adequate documentation. Any work that has portions created or sourced from AI and is presented as a student’s original work without citation and/or teacher-approved use of AI is considered plagiarism. Students should always follow teacher guidance on the use of AI and cite their use of AI, when use is allowed. Students should also refrain from using AI to misuse intellectual property or misrepresent the likeness of others.

Guidance for Staff

It is important for staff to develop an understanding of how AI tools are developed and why they create the results that they do. Staff should be critical users of AI, evaluating if and how AI should be used in different settings. Staff are also responsible for modeling responsible and ethical use of AI and adhering to all relevant laws and policies. Staff members should refer to the GCPS Staff Acceptable Use of Technology policy and other supporting resources on the GCPS AI Resource Center for additional information. Teachers and school leaders should provide guidance and expectations to students on if, how, and when they can use safe AI tools in their learning. Reference Third-Party
Vendor or the Staff AI Resource Center to determine if a tool is approved for use.

Need to Know:

• Evaluating AI Tools: Staff should evaluate the purpose, safety, and trustworthiness of AI tools before use. Any AI tools should be approved, based on the audience, using GCPS Third Party Vendor Approval process. Be aware of any age restrictions that might exist for tools.

• AI for Academic Purposes: Teachers and school leaders are responsible for clarifying appropriate or prohibited uses of AI tools in the classroom. Teachers might allow the limited use of generative AI on entire assignments, parts of assignments, or not at all. Guidance may change based on assignments and learning goals but should be clearly communicated.

• AI Output Review: Always review and critically assess outputs from AI tools before acting or disseminating information. Be sure that pedagogical uses of AI are aligned with research-based practices. Never rely solely on AI-generated content without review.

• Bias and Misinformation: Be aware that AI-generated content may possess biases or inaccuracies. Always verify AI-produced results using trusted sources and understand the limitations of AI.

• Safety and Respect: Users must not use AI tools to create or propagate harmful, misleading, or inappropriate content.

Opportunities for AI Use:

• Aid Productivity: Staff might harness AI to generate ideas or examples for specific tasks or lesson planning, like communication, question prompts, strategy ideas, rubric templates.

• Communication: AI can offer real-time translation, correct writing mistakes, clarify messages, or draft and refine communications.

• Thought Partner: Staff might use AI to help clarify, summarize, or even analyze their own ideas in development.

• Continuous Professional Development: AI can guide educators by recommending teaching and learning strategies based on student needs, personalizing professional development to staff needs and interests, suggesting collaborative projects between subjects or teams, and offering simulation-based training scenarios such as teaching a lesson or interviewing potential candidates.

• Research and Resource Compilation: AI can help educators by recommending books or articles relevant to a lesson and updating teachers on teaching techniques, research, and methods.

• Operational Efficiency: Staff might use AI tools to support school operations and streamline administrative processes, including scheduling courses, automating inventory management, increasing energy savings, and generating performance reports.

Prohibited AI Use:

• Societal Bias: AI tools trained on human data will inherently reflect societal biases in the data. Risks include reinforcing stereotypes, recommending inappropriate educational interventions, or making discriminatory evaluations, such as falsely reporting plagiarism by non-native English speakers. Humans must review and evaluate all AI-generated outputs before use.

• Diminishing Student and Teacher Agency and Accountability: While generative AI presents useful assistance to amplify staff capabilities and reduce teacher workload, these technologies will not be used to supplant the role of human educators in instructing and nurturing students. The core practices of teaching, mentoring, assessing, and inspiring learners will remain the teacher’s responsibility in the classroom. AI is a tool to augment human judgment, not replace it. Teachers and staff must review and critically reflect on all AI-generated content before use, thereby keeping “humans in the loop.”

• Compromising Ethics and Privacy: Staff should not use AI in ways that compromise staff or student privacy or lead to unauthorized data collection, as this violates privacy laws and our system’s ethical principles. Staff should never enter personal identifiable information into AI tools.

• Noncompliance with Existing Policies: Staff should follow Third Party Vendor policies and approved tools list, especially when supporting student use of AI tools. We will evaluate AI tools for compliance with all relevant policies and regulations, such as privacy laws and data governance policies. Be sure to check the approval details as not all tools are approved for all ages or audiences.

Guidance for Parents

AI is impacting the workforce across industries, and the responsible, effective, and ethical use of AI is an important skill set for students to have in college and in their careers. Parents play an important role in guiding and monitoring student use of technology, including AI. We encourage parents to discuss and, perhaps, learn with their students as they learn to be critical users of AI over their learning experience. Parents can leverage guidance from this document, the GCPS Responsible Use of Technology student policy, and external resources like Common Sense Media to learn more about responsible AI use. In addition to the Guiding Principles of this document, parents might consider the following:

• Explore Generative AI Tools for Yourself: Try using tools, like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, to better understand these tools as well as the opportunities and risks they present. You can share your experiences with your students and discuss how these tools work.

• Monitor and model: It is important to supervise your students’ use of AI tools, especially if they are younger. It is great to monitor the tools they are using and model safe and responsible use for them. Not all AI tools are appropriate for all ages.

• Clarify Goals: Work with your students to understand how they might be using AI and what guidance or expectations their teachers set for their work. AI can be a great tool to support learning or productivity, but students must still practice their critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills.

• Respect Copyright and Plagiarism Rules: Remind students to follow teacher guidance and discourage any use of AI that might lead to plagiarism. Students should always credit any work or source that is not their own.

• Establish Expectations for Use and Communication at Home: Just like any technology, it is important to set clear expectations for when and how you want students to engage with AI at home. Maintain open and honest communication about AI.

• Model Adaptability: AI continues to evolve, and how we use it and what we know will evolve as well. Be prepared to adapt as you gain experience and learn with your student.

Sources and Supporting Information

Who to Contact in GCPS:

Topic	Contact
Understanding school or classroom specific guidance or expectations around AI use for students	School administrator or teacher
Relevant Board Policies or Procedures	Office of Administration and Policy
Third-Party approvals of AI tools	Department of Data Governance
Leveraging AI as an instructional or productivity technology tool	Department of Instructional Technology and Innovation
Understanding content-specific AI tools or guidance	Division of Teaching and Learning, curriculum offices
AI Pathway and AI-Ready Learning	Office of AI and Computer Science

Sources:

This guidance was developed with support from Digital Promise GenAI Policy Working Group and EDSAFE
AI Alliance Policy Lab.

Portions of this guidance were inspired or adapted from the following sources:

Additional Learning Resources:

Common Sense Media AI Initiative

This guidance document can be used under CC license BY-NC.

Frequently Asked Questions